from www.phuketgazette.net – One German tourist is dead and another in hospital following apparent overdoses of the drug methadone – taken by injection into the penis.

Chalong Police said the tourists, a gay couple in their mid-30s, arrived in Phuket on January 26 as part of a group tour and were staying at a five-star hotel in Karon.

One of the pair, admitted to Phuket International Hospital by his partner yesterday, told doctors he had injected the drug into his penis.

The partner, whose name is being withheld pending notification of kin, then left the hospital but failed to answer a telephone call later that day.

He was later found dead in the hotel room the couple had been sharing.

Chalong Police said bloody hypodermic needles found at the scene, injection marks on the penis of the deceased and containers of methadone indicated that the man died of an overdose of the drug.

They collected nine containers of the liquid synthetic opiate in total: seven in the compartment beneath the seat of their rented motorbike and two more in the hotel room safe.

Methadone is generally prescribed to heroin addicts as a way of allowing them to function normally while attempting to break the habit.

The methadone was prescribed to both men by a well-known private hospital and came with the specific instructions that it was to be taken orally twice a day, police said.

The hospitalized tourist was moved to Vachira Phuket Hospital last night.

Police said he remained in a serious condition.